The relationship between mutual fund fees and expenses and their effects on performance

Fees charged by mutual funds include front-end load charges, deferred sales charges that decrease over time, redemption fees that are imposed whenever shares are sold, and 12b-1 fees. Fees may be justified if they allow the fund to lower other costs or improve performance. In this paper, we find that, on average, 12b-1 fees, deferred sales charges, and redemption fees increase expenses whereas funds with front-end loads generally have lower expenses. We also find that funds with 12b-1 fees and redemption fees, on average, earn higher risk adjusted returns but funds with front-end load charges earn lower risk adjusted returns.     

Sustainable Transport Policy: The Contribution from Behavioural Scientists

Publication of the UK Government's White Paper on Transport, in July 1998, has raised public awareness of the problems associated with widespread car use. The authors argue that these problems, which largely result from the aggregated choices and behaviour of many individual car uses, could be mitigated if the main determinants of car use and the underlying behavioural mechanisms were better understood. This article examines six strategies for changing social behaviour, and some important conditions for reducing car use. Examples are presented of how the insights gained can be applied in practice.     

The Life Cycle of Daily Newspapers in The Netherlands: 1848–1997

In 1848 freedom of the press was written into the Constitution of the Kingdom of The Netherlands. This paper investigates the life cycle characteristics of the market for daily newspapers in The Netherlands since then. Life expectancy depends on the cyclical evolution of the number of daily newspapers through time. The life cycle of the competitive newspaper industry in The Netherlands is characterized by a turning period of turmoil during World War II. Models that aim at estimating the expected lifetime of newspapers should acknowledge the cyclical characteristics of the industry.     

On the Detection of State Dependence Using Aggregate Outflow Data: Comments on Previous Studies

In this paper we examine a rather popular eyeball check which has been used to establish the presence of state dependence in aggregate unemployment duration data. We correct the literature by showing that this check may well lead to wrong conclusions.     

Mexico's Financial Sector Crisis: Propagative Linkages to Devaluation

The sharp 1994 Mexican peso devaluation was followed by a financial-sector crisis, forcing the Mexican government to retake control of several banks and to grant substantial assistance to many others. This paper tests several hypotheses concerning the impact of devaluation. First, event-study methodology is used to test whether some sectors of Mexican economy were 'devaluation-gaining' while others were 'devaluation-losing'. Second, we test whether devaluation shocks were transmitted to the financial sector through the liability side versus the asset side of bank balance sheets. Our results indicate the importance of asset diversification.     

The aggregate labor market effects of the Swedish Knowledge Lift program

The Swedish adult education program known as the Knowledge Lift (1997–2002) was unprecedented in its size and scope, aiming to raise the skill level of large numbers of low-skill workers. This paper evaluates the potential effects of this program on aggregate labor market outcomes. This is done by calibrating an equilibrium search model with heterogeneous worker skills using pre-program data and then forecasting the program impacts. We compare the forecasts to observed aggregate labor market outcomes after termination of the program.     

欧盟海关税则归类的政治经济学

海关税则归类是一国贸易政策中极为重要的一个元素。因为它能以多种方式影响一国的贸易政策,因此各国便有动力为了贸易保护而对其进行操纵。当然,关税税则的改变可能是由于新产品的引入或者新技术的发明,     

Frontiers of Climate Change Economics

The potential of taxes to correct environmental externalities has long been recognized among economists. Yet, this welfare-enhancing policy commonly faces strong opposition by citizens. Conversely, externality-correcting subsidies frequently enjoy high public support. We conduct a lab experiment to explore public support for Pigouvian taxes and subsidies. In an experimental market with a negative externality, participants vote on the introduction of Pigouvian taxes and subsidies under full or reduced information concerning how the tax revenues will be spent and the subsidy paid for. Theoretically the two instruments should produce identical outcomes. However, we find substantially greater support for subsidies than for taxes. This can partially be explained by the participants’ expectation that the subsidy will increase their own payoffs more than a tax, but not because it is expected to be more effective in changing behavior. Furthermore, we find that with greater uncertainty, the preference for subsidies is even stronger, a result which is consistent with loss aversion.     

Alternative approaches to evaluation in empirical microeconomics

Four alternative but related approaches to empirical evaluation of policy interventions are studied: social experiments, natural experiments, matching methods, and instrumental variables. In each case the necessary assumptions and the data requirements are considered for estimation of a number of key parameters of interest. These key parameters include the average treatment effect, the treatment on the treated and the local average treatment effect. Some issues of implementation and interpretation are discussed drawing on the labour market programme evaluation literature.JEL Classification: J21, J64, C33Correspondence to: Richard BlundellThis review was prepared for the special microeconometrics PEJ. Comments from the editors, the referee and participants at the CeMMAP conference at which the papers for this volume were presented are gratefully acknowledged. The research is part of the program of the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Fiscal Policy at IFS. Financial support from the ESRC is gratefully acknowledged. The second author also acknowledges the financial support from Sub-Programa Ciência e Tecnologia do Segundo Quadro Comunitário de Apoio, grant number PRAXIS XXI/BD/11413/97. The usual disclaimer applies.